10 Easy Summer Jewelry Tips for This Year

From packing for vacation, to how to keep your summer jewelry clean, to which gems need protection on the beach, consider this your ultimate post for summer jewelry tips for this year. 

1. Your Summer Jewelry Doesn’t Need to Have Fun in the Sun with You

With summer comes sandcastles, swimming, barbecue, and tennis – all of these activities could be potentially hazardous to your fine jewelry. Learn about your gems and determine which activities you should avoid while wearing them. However, you can always keep it simple: Save that jewelry for evening events, such as dinner. 

2. Learn about Your Gems

To ensure the longevity of your gems, learn some basic facts about them. Many gems are super sensitive to abrasives, such as a chlorinated pool or a sandy beach. There are some gems that will change colors over time or crack if you leave them in the sun for too long. If porous gems come in contact with certain lotions of cosmetics, they can become discolored. Take a couple of minutes and research your gem if you’re not sure about its properties.  Here are some popular gems and a list of what they’re sensitive to:

• Pearl – Porous gem, exposure to abrasives or chemicals can cause damage, natural oils can darken them. 
• Emerald – Chemicals can strip the cedar oil from the gem, which is what they are normally treated with. 
• Turquoise – Porous gem, natural oils can cause them to dark, and exposure to abrasives and chemicals can cause damage. 
• Coral – Porous gem, exposure to abrasives or chemicals can cause damage. 
• Amethyst – Sensitive to light. Prolonged exposure to the sunlight can cause the color to fade. 
• Topaz – This gem is also sensitive to light. Prolonged exposure to the sunlight can cause the color to fade. 
• Amber – Very soft and light sensitive. Exposure to abrasives or chemicals can damage the gem; prolonged exposure to the sunlight can cause the color to darken.

3. Use a Storage Case when Packing for Vacation

For those of you who love taking your jewelry with you while on the go (on vacation), then you should invest in a proper storage case that is designed for sumer jewelry. The key here is to keep each piece of your jewelry separate from the other piece. This way, metals won’t rub on each other, or a harder stone like a diamond won’t scratch a softer stone like a garnet. If you’re not able to get a storage case for your jewelry before vacation, then you can pack each piece in a plastic bag. A little word of advice: avoid storing pearls in plastic for a long period of time as this can cause pearls to dry out.

4. When Your Rings Don’t Fit You During the Summer

During the summertime, it’s common for your fingers to swell due to the heat. For this reason, some of your rings may no longer fit you. For this reason, we recommend having your ring size up by a quarter size so that you can continue to wear it during the warm summer months. 

5. Some Gems Can Benefit from Oils in Your Skin.

There are some gems, such as opals and pearls that can benefit from the oils in your skin. The oils will help keep the gem polished and lubricated, naturally, so that it doesn’t dry out and crack and will remain lustrous. 

6. Cleaning Your Jewelry

If you’re cleaning your summer jewelry yourself, be cautious of how you clean it and what you clean it with. Most gemstones out there can be cleaned with warm soapy water (not detergents) and a soft toothbrush. You can clean gold with diluted Windex if you don’t have any special cleaner. Sterling silver, on the other hand, can be cleaned with a baking soda solution. When polishing jewelry that has gemstone in it, take great care because there are some polishing pastes and solutions that can be too abrasive for porous or soft gems. Before storing the jewelry after cleaning it, make sure it is completely dry and finish it off by buffing it with a polishing cloth. 

7. Look Out for Fakes

While you’re on your summer vacation, you may find some jewelry being sold by a street vendor that is too tempting to turn away from. Remember: If the price of a piece of jewelry is too good to be true, then it might just be that, not true. Oftentimes, turquoise is imitated and sold as the real thing below market price. Buying a new bracelet at a super cheap price from a street vendor could leave you with a green wrist. You can tell if gold is real by looking at the carat weight (real gold is stamped with a caret weight), while silver will be marked with a variation of “STERLING” or “925.”

8. Keep it on the Light Side

During the summer months, during the warm weather, you may want to keep your jewelry choices on the light side. Antique jewelry, for example, is more lightweight than modern jewelry, making it perfect to wear during the summer.  As an additional bonus, antique gold has a tendency to have a warm glow to it, which looks amazing against sun-kissed skin.

9. Store Your Out of Season Jewelry in a Safe Place

We understand that some people may wear jewelry seasonally, and that is perfectly fine. If you do this, then you should consider storing that “winter jewelry” properly so you don’t have a bunch of repair and cleaning work to do when winter arrives. Just as you would pack your jewelry for vacation, store your seasonal jewelry individually. Use soft cloth bags so the jewelry can breathe. The jewelry box you choose should have space allowing for different types of pieces, which will help keep it organized. 

10. Don’t Forget Those Selfies

You want to show off that amazing necklace your significant other just gave you, and you do that by taking a selfie, but this isn’t the only reason to take a selfie. When you take a selfie with your new necklace, you will have that picture for insurance purposes. If your jewelry is lost or stolen during the summer, it’s always good to have proof of ownership, because this could help you recoup those losses quickly.

Conclusion

So there you have it, 10 summer jewelry tips for this year. When wearing jewelry this summer, make sure you take the above tips into consideration. Some of these tips can carry over to the winter months.